Workers use snow blowers to remove snow on the infield of Wrigley Field during a tour of the ball park in Chicago (Note: Image shot from iPhone and processed via Instagram)

Workers use snow blowers to remove snow on the infield of Wrigley Field during a tour of the ball park in Chicago (Note: Image shot from iPhone and processed via Instagram) (Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday threw cold water on the Cubs' proposal to work around the clock, seven days a week to speed up the behind-schedule bleachers reconstruction project, saying city law prevents such work.

From the suburbs

Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran and Undersheriff Raymond Rose addressed the Lake County Board’s Law and Judicial Committee on Tuesday, March 3, to discuss mental-heath issues and their impact on the county's criminal justice system.

Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran and Undersheriff Raymond Rose addressed the Lake County Board’s Law and Judicial Committee on Tuesday, March 3, to discuss mental-heath issues and their impact on the county's criminal justice system. (Jim Newton, Lake County News-Sun)

Addressing the Lake County Board's Law and Judicial Committee on Tuesday, Lake County Undersheriff Ray Rose described a pattern of recidivism that can form when an individual with mental-health issues ends up being arrested.

Just as the calendar flips to March and the weatherman promises a day or two of temps above freezing; just when our hardened hearts begin to melt as images of tulips and baseball begin to implant in our brains, we get hit with another Arctic front inviting Old Man Winter back into our lives.

News

The University of Illinois' rescinded job offer to a professor and a controversy over a faculty blog at Chicago State University helped land the two schools on a 2014 "worst of" list for student and faculty free speech rights.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the public to believe he doesn't benefit from the death of Boris Nemtsov, and some of the slain politician's anti-Kremlin allies seem inclined to agree. Putin has used this propaganda line before, however, and there's no reason to believe it now. Nemtsov's...

"House of Cards" character Claire Underwood's struggle to define herself in the shadow of her machinating husband is yet another manifestation of our cultural obsession with Hillary Clinton and the Clinton marriage.

Politics

Under the increased scrutiny and pressure of a one-on-one campaign against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia on Monday dropped his monthslong opposition to allowing a Barack Obama presidential library to be built on city parkland.

Rep. Aaron Schock billed taxpayers at least three times for a total of more than $14,000 in private air travel last fall, including for a trip to a Chicago Bears football game, The Associated Press has learned.

Illinois hunters and outdoors enthusiasts see Gov. Bruce Rauner as a potential new ally in Springfield as they eye legislation this session that includes measures to ban the use of drones to track wildlife, allow silencers at gun ranges, expand coyote hunting to crossbows and resurrect a bobcat...

Sports

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Right-hander Jeff Samardzija saw his first game action in a White Sox uniform Tuesday during the club’s intrasquad game at Camelback Ranch, and his new teammates made him work right away.

Conan O'Brien entertains hundreds of thousands of people each year. On a recent clandestine trip to Cuba, however, the TBS latenight host had to please just one - and for several harrowing minutes, thought he had failed.

Steven Dietz's play "Yankee Tavern" is a cleverly self-protected piece of writing, a deconstruction of 9/11 conspiracy theories that also airs a good number of them, ranging from the spike in the short-selling of stock in United and American Airlines on Sept. 10, 2001, to the guy who claimed to...

Real Estate

The single-family-home rental market remains on a tear that's expected to continue this year, despite low mortgage rates, slower home price growth and revised government-backed mortgage requirements that could drive more consumers into homeownership.